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I would be the first to admit that this show was treading water for the first few weeks with the “find Sophia” plot line that never seems to end but with one week to go before our mid-season break, it has finally found its stride. Last nights episode found some strong character development and some drama that was actually entertaining. It wasn’t another find Sophia plot line and we finally got to see some of the other character growth that I have been waiting for. Glenn is such a likable guy, it is nice to see him getting some more face time and finally see Dale grow a bit. I would still like to see more happen from episode to episode because we were plodding along for so many episodes there but The “farm” days are coming to a head with next weeks episode.

American Dad

I really, really disliked this show when it first came out. Over the last month I have caught a few reruns on Adult Swim and found myself hooked. I dug into my Netflix a bit and found that the show started taking shape in about the 3rd season so I decided to watch the most current season from week to week. Last nights episode was quite funny but I would never have come to enjoy this show if I didn’t come to embrace Roger and Stan for the odd ball’s that they are. They drive this show and I am glad that I gave it another chance.

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South Park

From week to week you never have a clue what you will get from the South Park boys, but I have found that more times than not it has been below average. From the first half of the season I enjoyed “Humancentipad” and “Royal Pudding” but not since the Season 14 finale “Creme Fraiche” have I laughed out loud in the way that South Park used to make me laugh. The most recent episode was far better than the really bad “A History Channel Thanksgiving” but is nowhere near up to par with their good stuff.

Boss

After a great debut episode and a solid second episode, this show has reverted to the “hey look we are a pay cable channel show” attitude with lots of useless nudity and a plot line that is crawling at this point. Kelsey Grammer is the only thing carrying this show from week to week as it is struggling to intrigue. I am not quite sure if it is too many working parts in too many different plot lines or the slow movement of the central plot that is slowing down the show. It is pretty disappointing considering how much potential the show had, I hope it can turn things around.

The Walking Dead needs to go somewhere soon or I am checking out. We are spending too much time doing……well…….nothing. This has been a season of absolutely nothing and has me screaming at the screen to just kill the damn kids already. How many episodes are we going to spend looking for Sophia? Did they cut the budget so much that they could only afford two main shooting locations for the season? There is some average acting and in my opinion, they are straying too far from the great source material. Maybe I will just stick to the comics.

Boss, the Starz original series is easily the best show to watch this fall. It has been funny, well scripted and great acting by Kelsey Grammer. They have had several curveballs so far and we are only two episodes in. Is anyone out there watching this show? What do you think? Great political plot lines and it reminds me in some ways of another solid show The Wire.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors was decent this year but I felt the last “Avitar” segment was fairly weak. I am not a Simpsons watcher any more but I always tune into this Halloween special every year because it has remained funny. The “Diving Bell and The Butterfly” segment gave me some laughs, especially the spiderman segment. This is the Simpsons that I miss, but I think those days are long gone.

Shows that belong on the cutting block:

Pan Am – Wow this show is really, really bad. The acting is laughable and do they seriously have a CIA subplot in a show about airline stewardesses? The dialog between the pilots is some of the worst that I have seen in some time.

The Cleveland Show – What is the appeal of this show exactly? Is television that bad on Sunday’s that this show survives year after year? Every year I watch 2 or so episodes and every year I wonder why it is still on.

Marriage Under Construction – This show suffers from poor editing, annoying voice overs and really bad scripting. Yes, I know it is a “reality” show but it is pretty transparent with its scripting. I love the DIY network but this show has to go.

*Warning Spoilers……….hahahahah do yourself a favor and do not watch this film

Why do you have to be a fan of the zombie genre to enjoy the films? I will start off by saying after watching this film, it is official that George A. Romero has made three of the worst films that I have ever seen (The Crazies, Day of The Dead, Survival of The Dead). I don’t know which is worse: his writing or his directing because they both have such huge flaws to them. I seem to be able to find more things that excite me about another series of films (The Ernest P. Worrell series) than I do any of Romero’s zombie crap passed off as good cinema. I am not anti-zombie, in fact there are several zombie things that I enjoy which include “The Walking Dead” comic series (the show is sub standard), the movie “Zombieland” and the Resident Evil games. They are all well done with great writing and interesting stories to go along with the slaughtering of tons of zombies. But getting back to this rubble pile that is Survival of The Dead, I had a hard time finding anything worth writing positively about. Just imagine a director becoming an even worse cliché of himself….if that makes sense.

The opening sequence which involves soldiers having to kill one of their own who is turning into a zombie, is one or two steps below B movie. From the horrible cgi, to the awful dialog and cliché moments I didn’t realize that with each frame I was diving head first into a shit storm abyss of a movie. I guess the plot revolves around two warring Irish families on a small island off of the Delaware coast. Really? This was the best he could come up with? Feuding families? I thought that fad died centuries ago. One family wants to kill off all the people who become zombies, the other wants to keep them around in case they can find a cure. But I guess finding a cure would involve either looking for one or developing one……neither of which happen in this film. There are army outcasts turned mercenaries, some sort of religious subtext and a twin sister?????????? Are you kidding me??????? What a better way of writing in a new character than when you kill one-off, you dupe the audience and bring in a twin sister that was never mentioned, 45 minutes later. The cinematic equivalent of a someone having an alien invasion movie that ends with a human throwing water at the alien and finding out that the water is toxic to the aliens, so the aliens stop their invasion and leave……I mean come on, that would never happen in a movie…….(the sound of crickets)

I am sorry but there are sooooooooooooo many flaws with this piece of shit and I don’t really feel like talking about them any more because it would take me all day and 1,000 posts to cover it all. I am really mad that I have watched another one of Romero’s movies but at this rate I might as well make it through them all.

I don’t watch a ton of television because I think a good majority of it is rubbish, but there are a few standout shows and a few “Let Downs” that I would light to highlight in the first of my “Best of 2010” posts.